Her guards

Chapter 68 The Empress's Questioning

The morning light was bright.

The emperor's chief eunuch stood on the steps outside the palace, his usually cheerful face now showing a hint of solemnity.

Palace maids and eunuchs came and went behind me, and the warm aroma of food wafted out, dispelling some of the chill of early winter.

"My lord, please have a bowl of soup first."

"Hmm, this soup tastes just like the one at home."

"It's fine as long as it's the same. Earlier, Ah Feng was concerned about you two elders and had your family send you the recipes you use. I remember that this is one of the ingredients, so I just instructed the Imperial Kitchen to make it accordingly."

"Sigh, I wanted to come here to Your Majesty for something new to eat. I'm so tired of being controlled at home."

The conversation between the Emperor, Empress, and Marquis Yichun inside the palace sounded relaxed, but the expression on the face of the chief eunuch standing outside did not ease at all.

“Father! You didn’t come here just to have a fresh meal.”

The Empress's voice rose in pitch.

"You deceived me when we got married, what are you trying to deceive me about now?"

The chief eunuch's expression immediately became even more solemn. He gestured for the eunuchs and maids around him to stay away, and he himself went down the steps to keep a close watch on the surroundings.

The emperor inside the hall was about to stand up, but Marquis Yichun raised his hand to stop him.

“Your Majesty, you are no longer the same as before. You must not lose the proper distinction between ruler and subject!” he said. “If you are to be subservient to Ah Feng, then I will have no choice but to prostrate myself before you.”

The emperor froze, somewhat helplessly: "Father-in-law, you..."

Marquis Yichun then looked at the Empress: "We deceived you? Then let me ask you, if you had told the truth that he was already married in the countryside, and your grandfather had asked you to marry him, would you have married him or not?"

The Empress looked at him and gritted her teeth: "Of course not..."

"You won't marry?" Marquis Yichun interrupted her, chuckling lightly. "What right do you have to say you won't marry? As the daughter of the Chai family, you've been pampered since childhood, having everything you could want. Even in the chaos of the outside world, your biggest worry was whether the camellias in your backyard would bloom on time. What? Now that it's your turn to arrange a good marriage for the Chai family in this turbulent time, to unite two families, you feel wronged?"

The Empress's face turned pale and then green: "It's not up to me to decide whose family I was born into..."

"Since you know you can't control things, think less about what you're unhappy about and more about what you've gained." Marquis Yichun interrupted her again, picked up the bowl in front of him, took a sip, and looked at the Empress again. "Your Majesty, one should be content and grateful."

The Empress sat stiffly, listening to her father address her as "Your Majesty," and gave a self-deprecating smile: "Yes, I am now the Empress whom my father and mother must bow to. My sisters who once fought with me for clothes and jewelry dare not look me in the eye. I no longer worry about whether the camellias are growing well. Countless artisans have devoted themselves to my preferences. I have become the most noble person in the world and live the best life in the world. Yet I am still not satisfied and still fuss over whether others have lied to me."

The emperor stood up, walked to the empress, and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Ah Feng, it’s not someone else that makes you so petty, it’s your husband.” He sighed. “It was my fault back then. Although I told my grandfather and father-in-law, I didn’t tell you the truth because I had my own selfish motives. I did deceive you.”

At this point, Marquis Yichun was about to speak.

"The Marquis did come for the matter of the Duke of Ding'an. I didn't want you to hear it because I knew you would be angry. Not to mention you would be angry, even I would be angry."

"Previously, his daughter was not academically gifted and failed the exam, so he begged for help. This time, his daughter is quite academically gifted, but her conduct is questionable. She stole someone else's identity to be a companion in the exam, and now the family has discovered the deception and come knocking on their door."

Hearing this, the Empress forgot her anger and looked at the Emperor in surprise: "Stealing someone else's identity?" She frowned, "Which daughter? Apart from Yang Hui, the daughters born to concubines are all still young."

“A younger sister from my second uncle’s family,” the Emperor said. She was someone he knew, but the Empress did not. He quickly added, “Yang Shiduan’s second daughter. I remember her nickname was Zanniang. She married young and passed away not long after the Yang family was granted a title, leaving behind a daughter.”

She even remembered the name of the second daughter of the Yang family. The Empress, however, was somewhat distracted, when she heard the Emperor's voice coming next.

"That child ran away from home because he was unhappy with his marriage. When he came to the capital, he became even more audacious and stole someone else's identity. He only told the Duke of Ding'an after he was caught. The elders of the Liu family wanted to report him to the authorities, so the Duke of Ding'an came to the Marquis for help."

“Their children are poorly disciplined and have done outrageous things, causing trouble for the Marquis time and time again.”

At this point, the emperor let out a long sigh.

“Ah Feng, you say you’re not satisfied, but actually it’s Lord Ding’an who’s not satisfied.”

He chuckled again as he said this.

"Besides being ungrateful, he also resorts to blackmail. What happened back then was my doing, not something your Chai family owes him. Father-in-law, you don't need to concern yourself with this matter."

Upon hearing this, Marquis Yichun spoke up: "Your Majesty need not intervene. In the end, it is merely the mischievousness of children, and it involves the dignity of the princess. My involvement is also out of personal motives; every family loves its own daughter. Heicheng has always been proud and arrogant, and she has only just been admitted to the Imperial Academy as she wished. If this matter escalates, it will surely bring her bad luck. Whether the daughter of the Duke of Ding'an cries or is heartbroken is none of my concern, nor will I be blackmailed by him, but I cannot allow my own child to be sad." As he said this, he glanced at the Empress.

“I was just about to make a request to His Majesty. Since you insist on knowing, then listen to it together.”

"This is a minor matter. We've already set an example, so to be fair, let's each choose a tutor for Princess Wuyang and Princess Nangong, so that the real Miss and the real Liu Chan can both study. We won't have to directly expose the fake Liu Chan's maid."

The emperor said with a stern face, "Studying is no small matter. How can we tolerate such a person of depraved character continuing to be in the Imperial Academy and around the princesses?"

Marquis Yichun smiled and said, "Of course not. We will arrange an exam at the end of the month, and those who perform poorly will be asked to leave."

That's true. One of the daughters of the Duke of Ding'an failed the preliminary examination, and the other didn't even take the exam, letting a educated maid who had been convicted and enslaved take it. It's clear that their character and learning are both lacking. As for the young lady from the Liu family, she was able to give her letters to others. Whether she was forced or deceived, her character and mind are utterly worthless.

One exam would be enough to kick them all out, the emperor thought for a moment and then nodded.

"We don't need to tell Grand Master Wang for now." He sighed again. "With Wang Zaitian's temper, even if I were to persuade him, he would definitely not keep such a person studying at the academy if he knew about this."

Let's wait until the exams are over, then we'll eliminate these kinds of people and let you know.

Marquis Yichun said no more, put down the soup he hadn't finished, and looked at the Empress: "Do you have any more questions? If not, you may leave." He shook his head as he spoke, "His Majesty and I are ruler and subject. It is against the rules for a ruler and subject to speak like this. For an Empress from the inner palace to come here is an overstepping of the bounds."

The Empress was not as angry as before, despite her father's impolite words. She pursed her lips and said, "Father, I will leave after you finish this bowl of medicinal food."

The emperor laughed and advised, "Father-in-law, you'd better not delay. If you don't drink now, Ah Feng will have the eunuchs tell Mother-in-law that she has to drink it when she gets home."

Marquis Yichun looked helpless and sighed, "When you get old, you have to be disciplined by your children and wife." He picked up the soup bowl and drank it down in one gulp.

The emperor handed a pair of chopsticks to the empress and said softly, "Ah Feng, let's eat."

The empress no longer refused, reached out and took it, then suddenly looked up at the emperor.

“I’m angry with myself too,” she said. “I’ve met you before we got married, but I never asked you if you were going to get married. I… I had my own selfish reasons; I didn’t dare to ask.”

I fear that if I ask, I will lose the person I love.

A smile spread across the emperor's eyes.

Marquis Yichun coughed lightly: "Alright, the elders are still here." He then shook his head and looked at the Emperor and Empress, "You two are getting on in years."

The emperor laughed heartily and picked up the bowl to eat first.

Although Marquis Yichun drank the medicinal soup, when he left the palace, the Empress still sent her chief eunuch to see him off in person.

"My lord, aren't you going to tell the Empress the truth?" the eunuch asked in a low voice.

The Marquis of Yichun's personal attendant had already told him the truth.

The eunuch's expression was complicated, his brows furrowed.

"That child is still alive and has even made it to the capital. It's understandable that we kept it from His Majesty, but shouldn't Your Majesty give us a heads-up and take precautions?"

"The Empress has a bad temper. Even after so much time has passed, she still argues with His Majesty from time to time."

"If we had known this child was coming."

Marquis Yichun smiled and said, "She knows nothing, so no matter how much she makes a fuss, it will only make His Majesty feel more guilty." He stroked his beard as he said this, "If she really finds out something and makes a fuss with His Majesty again, then His Majesty will have no pity for her and no guilt whatsoever."

After saying this, he looked at the eunuch.

"You need to keep a close eye on her and make sure nothing unrelated gets to her ears."

"All she has to do is be a good wife and a good queen."

"As for the rest, we've got you covered."

The eunuch bowed his head respectfully and replied, "Yes."

(End of this chapter)